Chris Whiteside's Blog

I was going to write a blog post urging everyone to attend the public meeting this coming Tuesday (3rd May) at the United Reformed church hall at Market Place about local hospital services. But I can't find a better form of words than the letter which appeared in this week's Whitehaven News, written by the Rev John Bannister, and I am sure neither he nor the Whitehaven News will mind me quoting it in full. On the hospitals blog (see link at right) I also quote letters on the subject from a consultant surgeon and from former councillor Ronnie Copeland. Make your voices heard in defence of hospital services SIR – On Tuesday, May 3, there will be a public meeting at 6.30pm in the United Reformed Church Hall on James Street. The meeting has been called by the ‘Save Our Services’ Group who have, over the past decade, acted as a pressure group for the retention of essential clinical services at West Cumberland Hospital. A recently published report setting out the services which GPs a...

I am sure I join millions of people, here and around the world, in saying congratulations and best wishes to the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their wedding day.

One of my hobbies is reading books: another is buying and selling them. Online retailers such as Amazon are one of the places I often use when looking for a book or trying to sell one. Generally the price of books online is related to supply and demand, but you do get the odd instance when prices don't appear to make sense. Sometimes you get ludicrously high prices asked - at other times the price has dropped to 1p plus postage for a book which is large and heavy enough that the sellers can't expect to receive more money in total than the book will cost to send. A major part of the reason for this is when sellers have used a computer to set their prices. In an interesting blogpost over Easter, " Amazon’s $23,698,655.93 book about flies ," Michaek Eisen discussed how this can produce all manner of perverse results. As readers observed in the comments thread, strange results in stock markets and currency markets can result from the action of similar computer programmes....

Easter Waste and Recycling Collections by Copeland Borough Council will be amended over the next two weeks as a result of the Easter, Royal Wedding and May Day bank holidays. CBC carried out waste and recycling collections on Friday 22 April (Good Friday) and will also do so on Friday 29 April (Royal Wedding). However they did not make any collections today (Monday 25 April) and will not do so on Monday 2 May. Collection days will therefore change as follows: Collections which would normally haver taken place today (Monday 25 April) will be postponed to Tuesday 26 April. Collections which would normally have taken place tomorrow, Tuesday 26th, will be postponed to Wednesday 27th April Similarly Wednesday 27 April collections will be postoned to Thursday 28 April Thursday 28 April collections will be postponed to Friday 29 April Friday 29 April collections will be postponed to Saturday 30 April Monday 2 May collections will be postponed to Tuesday 3 May Tuesday 3 May collections will...

May the Easter spring bring peace and happiness to everyone reading this blog today.

Today is the saint's day of the Patron Saint of England A very happy St George's Day to everyone reading this

Until the local elections and the AV referendum The contest for seats on Copeland Council is becoming, a little like the last general election, one between hope and fear. The Conservative slogan is "Vote for a better Copeland." Conservative leaflets spell our positive policies to attract business and jobs, such as free parking, how to improve quality of life, such as paying more attention to basic services such as cleaner streets, and how we will pay for it (scrap the full-time leader and executive, and return to a balanced committee system.) The Labour slogan is "Your Voice in Tough Times." Labour leaflets concentrate on how terrible the national situation is (without the faintest acknowledgement that the Labour government which was in office untill less than a year ago might have had anything to do with this) and promise in very vague terms to "stand up for" the needs of the community. Considering that they have been running Copeland Council for twenty y...

"Sarah Jane Smith" was one of the best of Doctor Who's assistants and my children love the spin off "Sarah Jane Adventures." So I was shocked to see that Elisabeth Sladen, the actress who played the character, has died aged 63 from cancer. She died yesterday leaving behind her husband, actor Brian Miller, and daughter Sadie. Rest in Peace.

David Cameron writes: "With less than three weeks to go until the AV referendum, we need to do everything we can to convince people to go to the polling stations and vote 'No' on May 5th. I've been on the campaign trail the last few days, and it's been great to meet voters from right across the political spectrum supporting our campaign. But it's clear that lots of people still haven't made up their minds - so we've got to keep on working to get the message out there that AV is an unfair, expensive and discredited system. This is not just about how we vote in General Elections. It's about how politics works, how governments are formed and ultimately, how our country is run. WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE 'NO' TO AV AV is unfair: With our current system, everyone gets one vote. But under AV, supporters of extreme parties like the BNP would be more likely to get their votes counted more times, meaning their votes are worth more than yours. AV is unclear...

Thursday's Whitehaven News contained the following letter from local businesswoman Carla Arrighi: SIR – As many of your readers are aware, myself and several other people are running a campaign in support of getting an elected mayor. This has not been an easy task, because although we have had a lot of support of the community, we have had no help from the council – the opposite, in fact. To be eligible to sign our petition you have to be over 18, and live in the Copeland area. Fair enough. But how come a prospective Labour councillor is allowed to stand when he does not even live in the area? He does work in the area and this is one of the requirements, but it means that if he wanted to sign my petition he would not be able to, but he would be able to be a councillor. I wonder if your readers think this is fair or democratic? Carla Arrighi Some of those reading this may have been wondering which candidate Carla is referring to, whether he is one of those standing to represent the ...

Here is the text of the speech due to be delivered today by David Cameron on immigration "A year ago, we were in the middle of a general election campaign. And there was one message I heard loud and clear on the doorstep: we want things to be different. People said they wanted a government that didn't just do what was good for the headline or good for their party but good for the long term and good for our country. That's what we're engaged in. Clearly, cutting public spending isn't popular, but it's right to bring sense to our public finances. People said they wanted a government that actually trusted them to use their own common sense. That's the kind of government we want to be – giving neighbourhoods and individuals a whole range of new powers … scrapping so much of the bureaucracy that drove us mad. People said they were sick of seeing those who did the right thing get punished and the wrong thing rewarded. Again, that's what we're acting on. I...

I completed the National Swimathon yesterday, swimming 5,000 metres (200 lengths of Copeland Pool) in one hour fifty minutes and fifty seconds. A big thank you again to all those who sponsored me for this event - thanks also to the staff at Copeland pool for their part in making the event run smoothly. Since the Swimathon was launched in 1986, £35 million has been raised for a host of good causes, and over half a million swimmers have taken part. It is not too late to sponsor me and support Marie Curie cancer care, which you can do so at the swimathon website here.

The National Swimathon, which is 25 years old this year hs now started. I will be doing my swim tomorrow at Copeland pool. A big thnk you to all the friends and colleagues who have already sponsored me for this event - just to show that we don't always disagree, incidentally, they include both Conservative and Labour councillors. Since the Swimathon was launched in 1986, £35 million has been raised for a host of good causes, and over half a million swimmers have taken part. This year Swimathon aims to raise over £2 million for Marie Curie Cancer Care and The Swimathon Foundation. It will be the 18th consecutive year have taken part. I plan to swim 5,000 metres at Copeland pool tomorrow morning (Sunday 10th April). Anyone who would like to sponsor me and support Marie Curie cancer care can do so at the swimathon website here.

Here are the "Statement of persons nominated" documents for the May 2011 Copeland council elections. (Am gradually putting these onto the blog - have been having fun getting them into a format Blogger will accept.) Click on each to open and click again to zoom. Arlecdon ward nominations Beckermet ward nominations Bootle ward nominations Bransty ward nominations Cleator Moor (North) ward nominations Cleator Moor (South) ward nominations Distington ward nominations Egremont (North) ward nominations Egremont (South) ward nominations Ennerdale ward nominations Frizington ward nominations Gosforth ward nominations Harbour ward nominations Haverigg ward nominations Hemsingham ward nominations

Journalist and Green writer George Monbiot, who used to be an opponent of Nuclear Power himself, has a coruscating article in the Guardian today, " The unpalatable truth is that the anti-nuclear lobby has misled us all ." He describes how he realised after asking for supporting evidence for comments made by leading anti-nuclear campaigner Dr Helen Caldicott during a debate, that she was unable to provide any reputable scientific evidence to support many of her statements. Monbiot has published his correspondence with Dr Caldicott on his website here . He examines some of the myths and legends spread by the anti-nuclear lobby, such as the wild claim that radiation from the Chernobyl disaster killed 985,000 people. A review by the journal Radiation Protection Dosimetry of the study cited by Dr Caldicott and others to support this claim points out that this figure is achieved by the remarkable method of assuming that all increased deaths from a wide range of diseases – includi...

Hat tip to Tim Montgomerie at Conservative Home for pointing out a number of recent pieces in the MSM about how Ed Miliband isn't up to the job. Iain Martin in today's Mail (See article at the bottom of this webpage) suggests that the split screen TV pictures of the Labour leader comparing himself to Martin Luther King while yobs threw ammonia bombs at police could be deeply damaging to Labour. (Incidentally, this may also be more relevant than you might expect to Bransty ward's forthcoming election - watch this space.) Tom Bradby, ITN's Political Editor, has written a devastating analysis of why Labour is losing the argument on the economy and the strategic political mistakes Miliband is making. (I originally had a link here but sadly it has now disappeared from the ITN website.) He points out the fatal problem in Labour's stewardship of the economy was that "Gordon Brown came to believe he had abolished the economic cycle and was therefore proceedi...

Don't forget that we lose an hour this evening as the clocks go forward from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time ...

The following story was sent to me today by a friend "One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers. That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. 'Really?' she heard whispered. 'I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!' and, 'I didn't know others liked me so much,' were most of the comments. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their p...

Whitehaven URC church was filled to overflowing this morning as hundreds of people attended the funeral of Shaun Hocking. Shaun was a former teacher, who had been headmaster of Lowca school and had taken part in a huge range of activities within the town. He had been heavily involved with football for young people through Whitehaven AFC and was a keen supporter of many other sporting and charitable activites including Whitehaven RFC. He was a member and past master of the Sun, Square and Compasses lodge, and a member of Probus. Shaun was a remarkable man who threw himself into everything he did, and he will be sadly missed by the Whitehaven community. Rest in Peace

George Osborne writes: "This afternoon I delivered my second Budget. I wanted to write to you immediately to explain our plans and set out some of the key measures. Last year's Emergency Budget was about rescuing the nation's finances and paying for Labour's mistakes. Today's Budget sticks to the plan, and focuses on reforming the economy to ensure jobs and growth for the future. I am also doing what I can help to families with the cost of living - including an immediate cut to fuel duty. I know times aren't easy for families at the moment, so this Budget announced help, including: An immediate cut in fuel duty by 1 pence per litre and a delay of April's inflation rise in duty to next January. This means fuel duty is 6 pence lower than it would be under Labour. We are paying for this by putting up taxes on the oil companies while the oil price is high to create a Fair Fuel Stabiliser. An increase in the personal allowance from £6,500 to £8,100 over the next...

I havew been greatly concerned about the impact of fuel prices on families and businesses, so I am very pleased that the Chancellor has acted in the budget to introduce the Fair Fuel Stabliser which we proposed while in opposition. The Chancellor announced an immediate cut in fuel duty of 1p per litre, funded by a £2 billion-a-year windfall levy on North Sea oil. He also postponed a 5p rise in fuel duty which had been scheduled by the previous Labour government for next month. “We are putting fuel into the tank of the British economy,” he said. At ten to five yesterday afternoon - in other words, minutes before the close of the working day before the budget - the Labour group on Copeland council proposed a motion in favour of cutting tax on petrol. While there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents - it was Labour that introduced increase after increase in fuel tax, and there wasn't a squeak of progest from any of the Labour members of Copeland Borough Council during an...

Hst tip to Political betting to drawing my attention to this article in the Guardian by George Monbiot, who has been a harsh critic of the management of the nuclear industry but recognises that all forms of energy, including even renewables (of which he supports an increase) do harm to the environment. His article is called Why Fukushima made me stop worrying and love nuclear power and starts with the words "You will not be surprised to hear that the events in Japan have changed my view of nuclear power. You will be surprised to hear how they have changed it. As a result of the disaster at Fukushima, I am no longer nuclear-neutral. I now support the technology. "A crappy old plant with inadequate safety features was hit by a monster earthquake and a vast tsunami. The electricity supply failed, knocking out the cooling system. The reactors began to explode and melt down. The disaster exposed a familiar legacy of poor design and corner-cutting. Yet, as far as we know, no one ...

George Monbiot, writer and journalist, pointed out on the BT Politics show today that Coal-fired power stations do more damage to the environment in the ordinary course of operations than nuclear powered ones do when they go wrong. Quite apart from the large-scale release of carbon into the atmosphere, coal fired stations also give rise to more radioactivity: there are trace radioactive elements in coal which are released into the atmosphere by a standard coal-burning power plant. If the recent terrible disaster in Japan results in a scaling back of new nuclear generation and more coal plants instead, this will do immense harm to the environment.

By jumping to premature or downright false conclusions about the relevance of the accident to Nuclear power in Britain. The earthquake which has just hit Japan was the fifth-worst ever recorded. It was 130,000 times more severe than the worst quake ever recorded in Britain. We do not know, and will never know precisely how many people have died in this terrible disaster, but it appears likely to be over ten thousand. And among those thousands of deaths, how many are directly attibutable to release of radioactivity from the nuclear power stations affected by the earthquake? So far, none. By all means let us review the vulnerability of all our installations - not just nuclear ones - to every natural threat they might realistically face. (And in the UK, that doesn't include Richter 8 plus earthquakes.)

A disaster of this kind is not the place to score political points. I note that Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, has been criticised by Labour MPs as well as Conservative ones as you can read here . And so he should.

I am stunned to read in the News and Star that an aid worker from Penrith, who was part of a 14-strong team from the "International Rescue Corps" flown out to Japan to help with the disaster, had to return home with the rest of the group because of problems with paperwork. You can read the details here . I am pleased to read that a government minister, Alistair Burt, has promised to investigate. One had better not junp to conclusions about whether the fault lies with the British authorities, the Japanese ones, or the organisers who sent the team out there, but to have the situation where people who are willing to help with a desperate crisis are flown to the other side of the world and told to come back again is absolutely beyond belief.

I am sure that almost everyone has been following the ongoing disaster in Japan with sympathy and horror. The magnitude of the disaster is quite astonishing. Thoughts and prayers are with all the people affected by the disaster.

Like most householders up and down the country I have received my census form. Note that there is no point returning this before 27th March - send it back before that data and the form is invalid.

... with the news that commercial contracts have been signed to make some of the parts for the first four power stations in a new generation of nuclear plants.

During Health questions on Tuesday of this week, after Andrew Rosindell MP had asked about measures to protect against MRSA and C-Diff (on which West Cumberland Hospital has an excellent record), the following exchange took place in parliament, and the health minister answering questions agreed to meet the MP for Copeland to discuss concerns about local hospitals in West Cumbria: Jamie Reed (Copeland, Labour) As the Secretary of State knows, the north Cumbrian health economy is in crisis. GP commissioning is providing £30 million less for acute hospital services in north Cumbria this year than it did last year. This has resulted in the trust being unable to seek foundation trust status, and it is seeking a merger which minutes leaked to me by consultants say could lead to the closure of the West Cumberland hospital. Will the Secretary of State meet me as a matter of urgency so that we can collectively find how we can get the hospital out of that hole? Will he also consider a delay to f...